The MusicNerd Q&A With 40 Sons

Since forming in 2004, Southern Ontario band 40 Sons has won over audiences nation-wide with their guitar-heavy modern rock songs while supporting the likes of Default and Thornley. The group is getting set to release their self-titled record on February 26.

By the time a band hits their 3rd record, they are typically starting to come into their own in terms of sound. Do you notice this with your upcoming album?

I think every time you finish an album you say to yourself, ‘This is it; this is totally us,’ because at the time it is you. It’s captured the place you were at in your life as a band and as people, right at that moment. I feel like we have just gotten a solid grasp in what we set out to do. When I listen to this new album, I get more excited than I have ever been about the band.

In terms of songwriting, what were the most noticeable changes from your previous release [2010’s Madness] to your upcoming album?

I think we have matured a lot as people and musicians. We’ve become a lot more in tune with each other. That’s a great part of being with the same guys for eight years; it becomes second nature. The problem with the last record was that we recorded it in too many different places over too long of a period so it didn’t have the right flow. This one took a long time but we never lost focus of what we were doing.

You’ve had the fortune of having some of the band’s songs used in high profile places such as UFC Events. Did you ever have any reservations about going this route with the band’s songs?

As long as you’re writing good music with integrity and that you personally feel something from, you’re not selling out. The idea of selling out is that you are changing your art and getting paid for it, which is not the case with us at all. We ended up writing Hurricane, the first single off the new album as the theme song for Showdown Joe. There was no exchange of money, we did it just because he was a friend who happened to love the band.